This was better than I was expecting. I was entertained and Nathalie Emmanuel is an appealing lead, visually it has some cool imagery. It could have had a bit more bite but for a late summer Screen Gems horror movie it's more enjoyable than it has any right to be. B

Watched the unrated version tonight. Actually thought it was quite enjoyable thanks in large part to a very likeable lead actress. I'd probably give it a B.

This highly generic Ready or Not copy with a vamp twist is just so limp-dicked and predictable. If it's marginally better than a DTV horror flick - and I'm being generous there - it deserves no more than a January release.

The problem with The Invitation is that, Evie, our final girl here, is a winner from the get-go. She might be low on the social ladder but from a narrative perspective she is already fabulous just by virtue of existing, so as a viewer it's hard to root for her. Despite her hosts being bloodsuckers (she doesn't know that for most of the movie), she is uptight and cannot get race out her head. The real racists are the ones that cannot let it go, and in this movie that's two black women. Evie and her friend back home have a huge chip on their shoulders about race. None of the other characters mention it. In fact, they welcome her with open arms (okay, I know, ulterior motives and all, but still her back is always up despite them giving her an all-expenses paid trip to England - show some gratitude!). Also, I didn't really see her problem. So she drinks a little blood, Walt drinks a little of hers, she gets superpowers and lives in luxury for eternity - what's the concern? She can always stab him in the chest a fortnight later while they sleep, and she can escape without a trace. I wasn't sure why it had to be done right there, right now - it's not as if they were trying to kill her as they were in the far superior Samara Weaving film. It's a handicap of this type of horror, in my opinion.

Nathalie Emmanuel is fine, Thomas Doherty applies himself well to the role of Chief Vamp, but overall the performances are nothing special. It isn't a scary or romantic film. It doesn't make much use - creative or otherwise - of the vampire milieu or genre conventions. All in all it's a bit meh. I guess I saw the theatrical version (1hr 45m) because it was quite tame in terms of gore and sex. Maybe the unrated version would be better but I ain't dipping my toes in that pool again. It's quite a forgettable movie, nothing exciting really happens, but the epilogue where they become pseudo-vampire hunter vigilantes lowered the whole project another level.